KNOXVILLE — Michael W. Spitze, 60, of Maryland was sentenced on May 20 to 70 months in federal prison for attempting to tamper with underage victims in his son Kyle Spitze’s criminal case. U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan imposed the sentence in Knoxville after Spitze pleaded guilty to one count of attempted victim tampering.

Court records show that in March 2024, at his jailed son’s request, Michael Spitze contacted at least four underage victims from around the world. He specifically targeted a 15-year-old identified as M.V., whom he “inundated” with phone calls and sent money approximately 13 times, according to a government sentencing memo. Spitze directed M.V. to create an online profile so his son could communicate with her about 51 times and asked her to send selfies to Kyle Spitze while he was in custody.

Spitze also urged M.V. to destroy any evidence she had against his son and asked her to tell others to do the same. He knew M.V. had been kicked out of her home and was living with a friend and her mother, the records state. In an email cited by prosecutors, M.V. wrote that Kyle Spitze “isn’t a good person at all. I’ve watched him first hand groom and extort other girls. He claims he isn’t a pedophile and that he’s something called a hebephile is what he said he is. When [his mother] tragically passed away...he said he had killed her and posted photos of her all over the internet. Everything everyone’s been saying is completely true. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I was so afraid of Kyle, but the authorities contacted me today. I didn’t give any information to them at all.”

During a video jail call with his son, who is held in Blount County Jail, Michael Spitze held up a sign referencing his contact with M.V. and told him, “You don’t have to worry about that one.”

After completing his prison term, Michael Spitze will serve three years of supervised release. Kyle Spitze, who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and distributing an “animal crushing video,” has a sentencing hearing scheduled for June 29.